Saturday, January 24, 2009

Gonzalez saves match point at Aussie Open; No. 1 Nadal, No. 4 Murray advance

In the most exciting match of the Australian Open so far, No. 13 seed Fernando Gonzalez (pictured) saved a match point in the third set tiebreak en route to a 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(10), 6-2, 12-10, victory over No. 24 seed Richard Gasquet on Saturday, in four hours and 10 minutes. Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and World No. 4 Andy Murray had little trouble in reaching the fourth round, as both players won in straight sets.

Looking to become the fourth Frenchman to reach the fourth round, Gasquet dominated the early portions of the match and held a match point in the third set tiebreak before letting opportunities pass him by on several occasions. After Gonzalez won the third set, the 2007 runner-up quickly won the fourth set in 32-minutes, sending the match to a final set. At 10-10 in the fifth set, Gasquet held a break point but the Chilean ripped an outstanding
forehand that clipped the line. Gonzalez would hold serve to go up 11-10 and would win the match in the next game by breaking the 22-year-old Frenchman’s serve. Both players put together impressive stats, as Gonzalez smashed 85 winners to only 51 unforced errors compared to 80 winners and 58 unforced errors by Gasquet. Both players won 191 points throughout the match and were 6 of 14 on break point opportunities, but it was Gonzalez who won the crucial points during the latter stages of the final set. After starting the season reaching the semifinals in Brisbane and Sydney, the Frenchman falls to 4-9 in five set matches in his young career. Currently ranked No. 14 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Gonzalez has now come from two sets to love down to win for the fifth time in his career. A winner of 10 career ATP singles titles since turning pro in 1999, Gonzalez next faces Nadal for a place in the final eight.

Nadal continued his domination down under by cruising past unseeded German Tommy Haas, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Nadal smashed 51 winners, won 81 percent of first serve points, won 20 of 23 net approaches and broke serve on six occasions. A five-time Grand Slam champion, Nadal improves to 4-0 lifetime against Haas. Haas, a former Top 10 player and three-time Australian Open semifinalist falls to 23-9 in Melbourne. A winner of 31 career singles titles including seven hard court titles, Nadal owns a 4-3 series edge against his next round opponent, Gonzalez.

A heavy favorite to capture his first career Grand Slam singles title, Murray put together another impressive performance, this time defeating No. 31 seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3, in one hour and 40 minutes. Murray, who advances to the fourth round in Melbourne for the second time in his career, smashed eight aces, hit 32 winners and only 10 unforced errors. The 21-year-old Scot was able to break the Austrian’s serve on seven occasions throughout the routine match. Capturing his ninth career ATP singles title earlier this year in Doha, Qatar after winning five titles in 2008, Murray improved to 8-0 on the season. Murray, who spent a month training for the 2009 season at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., next faces Spain Davis Cup hero and No. 14 seed Fernando Verdasco for a place in the quarterfinals.

Other Third Round Results from Saturday
No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Dudi Sela, 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1
No. 6 Gilles Simon def. Mario Ancic, 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-2
No. 9 James Blake def. No. 18 Igor Andreev, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
No. 12 Gael Monfils def. No. 17 Nicolas Almagro, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
No. 14 Fernando Verdasco def. No. 22 Radek Stepanek, 6-4, 6-0, 6-0

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